Not much to report around here and I'm still sitting on my writerly ass. Actually, I'm going through boxes of crap I've accumulated over the years. I'm such a paper pack rat. I'm throwing away some things and lightening my load.

I have piles of old critiqued stories. Some are from Clarion '93 and others are from the Eugene workshop when I first moved here shortly after Clarion. From '94, here's a critiqued manuscript of my story from someone who didn't even sign his or her name to it. This definitely isn't from a published pro. It's from a new writer and perhaps this new writer had agression issues. This quote is from just the first page of the manuscript. The scrawl runs over the title, my byline, and down the right margin.

"This plot is too complicated considering your writing skills--Please, do yourself a favor and learn some basics--such as past and present tense, and story composition. Not to mention transitions & sentence structure. Don't try another story until you have written some character studies and some plot outlines. Have someone who will work with you, critique your efforts. When you become comfortable, or should I say 'competent' in these two things--then begin to write stories again. Take a creative writing class--Keep working--Striving to be better. We all had to start somewhere."

Hey, this guy thought he was being helpful! Thanks a lot, man. Every page has snide and malicious comments until the top of page 18 (of a 23 page story) where he says, "I'm going to quit here--No sense in tearing your story apart any further." What a swell guy!

This critique is nine years old. I think this guy left the workshop long ago (I do have my suspects) and while I'm still in the workshop, more importantly, I'm still writing AND I've made one professional sale. For years I used to say critiques never stopped me from writing and I used to say they never brought me down. Man, was I ever lying to myself. They did affect me on a subconcious level and it's taken me years to realize this.

The guy wasn't wrong about everything he wrote. I did have a lot to learn and I still have to watch my grammar and spelling and sentence structure. But that guy was just boosting his ego through tear down of my manuscript. He was doing it with too much relish. These days I would recognize the critique for what it is.

Time to dump this old critiqued manuscript in the recycling bin. Whew!